The  Daniel  Webster  Birth  Place 
Celebration 


[Single  copies  of  this  pamphlet  may  now  be  obtained  gratis  of  the  Rumford 
Press,  Concord,  N.  H. 

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may  also  be  so  obtained  with  paper  covers  at  20  cents  each,  50  copies  at 
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AT  FRANKLIN,  NEW  HAMPSHIRE 
ON  AUGUST  28,  1913 


Opening  Address  of 

WILLIAM  E/CHANDLER 

President  of  the  Webster  Birth  Place  Association 


And 

The  Poem  in  Fac-Simile  Written  by 

EDNA  DEAN  PROCTOR 


WEBSTER  BIRTH  PLACE  ASSOCIATION 
CELEBRATION. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

Of  the  Proceedings  at  Franklin,  New  Hampshire, 

August  28,  1913. 

(1)  Invocation  by  Rev.  Rufus  P.  Gardner. 

(2)  Opening  address  by  Chief  Justice  Frank  N.  Parsons  of  Franklin,  Vice- 

President. 

(3)  Motion  by  Hon.  Clarence  E.  Carr  giving  a vote  of  sympathy  and 

thanks  to  Hon.  William  E.  Chandler  of  Concord,  President, 
— absent  on  account  of  sickness — adopted. 

(4)  Address  by  Mr.  Chandler,  read  by  Hon.  George  H.  Moses  of  Concord, 

late  United  States  Minister  to  Greece  and  Montenegro. 

(5)  Address  by  Governor  Samuel  Demeritt  Felker. 

(6)  Reading  by  Hon.  Henry  H.  Metcalf  of  Concord  of  Poem  by  Miss  Edna 

Dean  Proctor. 

(7)  Address  by  President  Ernest  Fox  Nichols  of  Hanover,  New  Hamp- 

shire, in  behalf  of  Dartmouth  College. 

(8)  Principal  oration  by  Hon.  Samuel  W.  McCall  for  the  Commonwealth 

of  Massachusetts. 

(9)  Address  by  Senator  Jacob  H.  Gallinger  of  Concord,  read  in  his  ab- 

sence by  Hon.  James  O.  Lyford  of  Concord. 

(10)  Letters  from  speakers  invited  but  unable  to  be  present: 

United  States  Senator  Hoke  Smith  of  Georgia. 

United  States  Senator  Henry  F.  Hollis  (2)  of  Concord. 
Congressman  Eugene  E.  Reed  of  Manchester. 

Congressman  Raymond  B.  Stevens  of  Landaff. 

Hon.  William  H.  Sawyer  of  New  York  City,  Chairman  of  Local 
Committee. 

(11)  Address  by  Hon.  Samuel  E.  Pingree  of  Hartford,  ex-Governor  of 

Vermont. 

(12)  Address  by  Hon.  David  Cross  of  Manchester,  New  Hampshire. 

(13)  Address  by  Hon.  Nahum  J.  Bachelder  of  Andover,  ex-Governor  of 

New  Hampshire. 

(14)  Address  by  Rev.  Arthur  Little  of  Newton ville,  Massachusetts. 

(15)  Closing  address  by  Hon.  Clarence  E.  Carr,  Vice-President  of  the 

Association. 

(16)  Benediction  by  Rev.  H.  C.  McDougall. 

(17)  Story  of  the  restoration  of  the  birth  place;  organization  of  the  Web- 

ster Birth  Place  Association  of  October  26,  1910,  with  list  of 
officers  and  members  and  contributors;  donation  and  freedom 
from  taxation  granted  by  the  legislature  of  New  Hampshire. 

(18)  Newspaper  accounts  of  celebration,  and  newspaper  comments. 

(19)  Appendix — Fac-simile  of  Miss  Edna  Dean  Proctor's  poem  on  Mr. 

Webster;  Mr.  Chandler's  note  to  his  address. 


OPENING  ADDRESS  OF 
WILLIAM  E.  CHANDLER 


It  is  my  privilege  to  open  the  proceedings  of  this  occasion 
by  telling  you  what  has  been  done  by  our  Birth  Place 
Association  for  the  restoration  and  permanent  preservation 
of  the  little  dwelling-house  in  which  Daniel  Webster  was 
born  on  the  eighteenth  day  of  January,  1782,  upon  the 
spot  where  it  now  stands — then  a part  of  the  town  of 
Salisbury,  now  a part  of  the  city  of  Franklin. 

Mr.  Webster,  in  addition  to  his  surpassing  qualities 
as  an  orator  and  statesman  of  world-wide  fame,  was 
pre-eminently  inspired  by  constant  admiration  and  affec- 
tion for  the  works  of  nature — for  the  joyous  places,  scenes 
and  other  aspects  of  the  physical  world  appearing  before 
him;  such  as  are  so  indispensable  to  the  happiness  of 
every  one  of  us  in  this  troublesome  yet  wonderful  world 
in  whose  vicissitudes  we  must  live  on,  until  there  is  lov- 
ingly opened  before  us  the  better,  and,  we  hope,  a little 
easier  life  for  spiritual  and  immortal  mankind. 

At  a mass  meeting  at  Saratoga  on  August  19,  1840, 
Mr.  Webster,  after  attributing  to  political  opponents  the 
origin  of  a reproach  that  Candidate  General  William 
Henry  Harrison  had  been  born  in  a log  cabin,  went  on  to 
say: 

“It  did  not  happen  to  me  to  be  born  in  a log  cabin; 
but  my  elder  brothers  and  sisters  were  born  in  a log  cabin, 
raised  amid  the  snowdrifts  of  New  Hampshire  at  a period 
so  early  that,  when  the  smoke  first  rose  from  its  rude 
chimney  and  curled  over  the  frozen  hills,  there  was  no 
similar  evidence  of  a white  man's  habitation  between  it 
and  the  settlements  on  the  rivers  of  Canada.  Its  remains 
still  exist.  I make  to  it  an  annual  visit.  I carry  my  children 
to  it  to  teach  them  the  hardships  endured  by  the  gener- 
ations which  have  gone  before  them. 

“I  love  to  dwell  on  the  tender  recollections,  the  kindred 


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ties,  the  early  affections,  and  the  touching  narratives  and 
incidents  which  mingle  with  all  I know  of  this  primitive 
abode.  I weep  to  think  that  none  of  those  who  inhabited 
it  are  now  among  the  living;  and  if  ever  I am  ashamed  of 
it,  or  if  I ever  fail  in  affectionate  veneration  for  him  who 
reared  and  defended  it  against  savage  violence  and  destruc- 
tion, cherished  all  the  domestic  virtues  beneath  its  roof, 
and,  through  the  fire  and  blood  of  seven  years’  revolu- 
tionary war,  shrunk  from  no  danger,  no  toil,  no  sacrifice 
to  serve  his  country  and  to  raise  his  children  to  a condition 
better  than  his  own,  may  my  name  and  the  name  of  my 
posterity  be  blotted  forever  from  the  memory  of  mankind.” 

On  October  11,  1828,  Mr.  Webster  wrote  a letter  on 
“Local  Associations”  to  his  friend,  Jacob  McGaw,  who 
had  written  to  him  about  a trip  to  Kingsbridge,  White 
Plains,  Benn’s  Heights  and  other  historic  places  he  had 
recently  visited.  He  wrote: 

“I  never  knew  a man  yet,  nor  a woman  either,  with 
a sound  head  and  a good  heart,  that  was  not  more  or  less 
under  the  power  which  these  local  associations  exercise. 

“It  is  true  that  place,  in  these  things,  is  originally 
accidental.  Battles  might  have  been  fought  elsewhere 
as  well  as  at  Saratoga  or  Bennington.  Nevertheless,  here 
they  were  fought;  and  nature  does  not  allow  us  to  pass 
over  the  scenes  of  such  events  with  indifference,  unless 
the  scenes  themselves  have  become  familiar  by  frequent 
visits  to  them.  For  my  part  I love  them  all,  and  all  such 
as  they.” 

And  again,  to  Chancellor  James  Kent,  on  June  5,  1832, 
concerning  the  former’s  speech  at  Mr.  Irving’s  dinner, 
Mr.  Webster  wrote: 

“One  line  for  the  purpose  of  saying  that  the  speech  is 
a delightful  little  thing,  just,  sweet,  affectionate.  When 
I read  the  paragraph  in.  which  you  prefer  what  relates 
to  the  blue  hills  and  mountain  glens  of  our  own  country 
to  sketches  of  foreign  scenes  and  foreign  countries,  I 
wanted  to  seize  your  hand  and  give  it  a hearty  shake  of 
sympathy.  Heaven  bless  this  goodly  land  of  our  fathers! 
Its  rulers  and  its  people  may  commit  a thousand  follies, 
yet  Heaven  bless  it!  Next  to  the  friends  beloved  of  my 
heart,  those  same  hills  and  glens  and  native  woods  and 


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native  streams  will  have  my  last  earthly  recollections. 
Dulce  et  decorum  est  pro  patria  mori.” 

Moved  by  this  same  kind  of  inspiration  which  always 
controlled  Mr.  Webster,  as  well  as  by  a sense  of  neglected 
duty  towards  the  humble  home  of  their  greatest  public 
man,  citizens  of  New  Hampshire,  aided  by  many  friends 
elsewhere,  have  at  last  rescued  his  birthplace  from  private 
control  and — either  in  the  hands  of  our  Association  or 
belonging  in  trust  to  the  city  of  Franklin — the  little  building 
as  it  was  in  1782  and  as  you  now  see  it,  with  the  130  acres 
of  the  farm  of  Captain  Ebenezer  Webster,  wherein  were 
born  Ezekiel  and  Daniel  Webster,  children  of  Abigail 
Eastman  (not  in  the  log  cabin  in  which  were  born  their 
brothers  and  sisters,  the  children  of  Mehitable  Smith) — 
will  stand  in  the  far  future  a precious  and  attractive 
reminder  of  perhaps  the  most  noted  orator  and  statesman 
of  this  or  any  of  the  nations  of  the  highest  civilization  in 
the  world. 

The  log  cabin  in  which  the  brothers  and  sisters  were 
born  was  located  upon  the  same  home-house-lot  and  the 
site  is  to  be  so  marked  by  a boulder  and  a suitable  tablet 
giving  the  result  of  the  latest  careful  research. 

It  is  intended  by  the  Association  to  improve  and  make 
pleasing  the  buildings  you  see — the  birthplace  building, 
the  larger  mansion  and  the  large  barn;  and  also  to  beautify 
the  130  acres  by  walls,  gateways  and  modest  monuments 
as  well  as  by  landscape  gardening  so  as  to  make  the  whole 
most  attractive  to  visitors  from  near  and  far  away  during 
all  time  to  come. 

The  next  Webster  home  was  three  miles  away,  down 
on  the  banks  of  the  Merrimack  and  known  as  the  Elms 
Farm;  and  the  last  was  at  Marshfield,  in  Massachusetts, 
on  the  shores  of  the  “ sounding  sea,”  where  Mr.  Webster 
so  much  indulged  his  pleasure  in  nature,  and  where  he 
died  on  October  24,  1852. 


4 


It  is  not  my  province  at  this  time  to  speak  at  any  length 
of  the  public  life  of  Mr.  Webster.  It  has  been  my  privilege 
to  do  so  on  two  occasions:  in  the  senate  on  December 
20,  1894,  upon  the  presentation  by  New  Hampshire  of 
the  Stark  and  Webster  statues  to  the  National  Gallery 
in  the  Capitol  at  Washington;  and  upon  the  presentation, 
on  January  18,  1900,  of  the  statue  of  Webster  to  be  placed 
by  Stilson  Hutchins,  a native  of  New  Hampshire,  on 
Massachusetts  Avenue  of  the  Capital  City. 

Senator  Gallinger  took  part  in  the  proceedings  in  the 
senate  and  had  hoped  to  be  here  today.  Our  principal 
speaker  is  a son  of  Dartmouth,  Representative  Samuel 
W.  McCall,  who  has  studied  and  eulogized  Mr.  Webster 
and  his  works  with  discrimination,  power  and  eloquence. 

[At  this  point,  upon  the  understanding  that,  when  the 
proceedings  of  this  day  shall  be  published  in  final  form, 
each  speaker  is  privileged  to  extend  his  remarks  by  a 
general  and  generous  “ leave  to  print,”  Mr.  Chandler 
brings  to  attention,  at  some  length,  two  episodes  in  Mr. 
Webster’s  career  which  he  characterizes  as  epochal  in 
their  nature — as  national  events  rather  than  orations 
in  the  career  of  a great  orator.] 

The  first  of  these,  naturally,  is  Mr.  Webster’s  contest 
against  the  right  of  a state  to  leave  the  Union  and  in  vindi- 
cation of  the  power  of  the  nation,  within  constitutional 
limits,  to  impose  its  legislative  will  upon  the  several  states. 
This  episode  of  Mr.  Webster’s  labors  for  the  Union  and 
the  Constitution  culminates  in  the  reply  to  Hayne  which, 
Mr.  Chandler  declares,  destroyed  the  doctrine  of  nullifica- 
tion. In  support  of  this  declaration  he  quotes  the  words 
of  Secretary  John  D.  Long  when,  as  the  President’s  spokes- 
man, he  received  for  the  nation  the  statue  of  Webster  to 
which  reference  has  already  been  made,  joining  with  his 
praise  of  Webster’s  overwhelming  arguments  in  the  senate 
the  luminous  judgments  of  John  Marshall  on  the  bench; 
and  saying  of  the  Constitution  framed  by  George  Wash- 


5 


ington  and  his  associates,  that  to  Webster  and  Marshall 
“we  owe  its  development,  by  interpretation  and  con- 
struction, into  the  great  charter  of  powers  which  now 
constitute  the  national  authority.  They  illuminated  its 
letter  with  the  national  spirit.  They  breathed  into  its 
frame  ^he  full  life  of  national  sovereignty.  ...  As 
they  prevailed,  so  they  made  the  United  States  indis- 
soluble by  internal  convulsion  and  equal  to  the  emer- 
gencies of  the  future  which  confronted  them  or  which 
confront  us.” 

The  second  event  to  which  Mr.  Chandler  refers  is  Web- 
ster’s connection  with  and  support  of  the  compromise 
measures  of  1850,  indicated  by  the  “ Seventh  of  March 
Speech”  of  that  year. 

The  reply  to  Hayne,  he  says,  brought  to  Webster  nothing 
but  fame  and  honor.  The  Seventh  of  March  speech 
produced  severe  condemnation  from  the  North  and  resulted 
in  Webster’s  failure  to  secure  the  nomination  to  the 
presidency  in  1852,  which,  Mr.  Chandler  asserts,  should 
have  been  his. 

Mr.  Chandler  contends  that  the  contemporary  criticism 
of  Webster  in  1850  has  no  justification  for  its  continuance 
now;  for  he  argues,  no  one  at  that  time  believed  that, 
as  a sequence,  would  follow  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri 
Compromise,  the  abandonment  of  the  Wilmot  proviso, 
the  struggle  in  Kansas  and  at  last  the  war  for  secession, 
while  on  the  other  hand  every  reasonable  human  being 
hoped  that  continued  conciliatory  legislation  would  in 
time  come  to  find  a wise  solution  of  the  problem  of  slavery 
in  the  United  States. 

Mr.  Webster’s  course  was  based,  says  Mr.  Chandler, 
upon  an  honest  motive;  and  in  this  is  to  be  found  a perfect 
answer  to  the  criticism  of  the  moment — which  should  long 
ago  have  disappeared,  he  urges,  in  the  further  light  of 
the  certain  knowledge  that  Webster,  had  he  lived,  would 
have  supported  Lincoln  and  the  Union  and  the  war  to 


6 


preserve  it,  no  less  earnestly  than  did  Stephen  A.  Douglas, 
the  destroyer  of  the  Missouri  Compromise. 

[Mr.  Chandler  here  referred  to  the  emancipation  of  the 
slaves  and  to  a history  of  American  slavery  contained  in 
an  address  of  his  before  a Grand  Army  Post  at  Nashua, 
N.  H.,  on  May  30,  1889,  now  printed  as  an  appendix,  and 
said :] 

God  hardened  Pharoah’s  heart  so  he  would  not  let  the 
children  of  Israel  go  until  there  had  come  the  plagues  and 
the  slaughter  of  the  first  born  of  Egypt.  So  an  overruling 
Providence  may  have  ordered  the  Compromise  measures 
of  1850.  Without  them  Secession  would  then  have  been 
attempted  with  as  many  slave  states  as  free  states  in  the 
Union  and  the  result  might  have  been  two  American 
republics,  one  slave  and  one  free.  The  delay  of  ten  years 
and  the  destruction  of  the  Missouri  Compromise  by  an 
infatuated  south  may  have  been  necessary  to  arouse  the 
north  and  give  it  victory,  with  Abraham  Lincoln  to  destroy 
slavery.  So  if  General  McClellan  had  won  victories  in 
1862  and  captured  Richmond  the  war  might  have  ended 
with  slavery  not  destroyed  as  a consequence  thereof.  Mc- 
Clellan was  defeated  and  retreated  to  a gunboat  on  the 
James  to  write  a letter  to  Mr.  Lincoln  telling  him  how  the 
war  ought  to  be  conducted  with  slavery  preserved,  which 
singularity  Mr.  Lincoln  told  me  he  at  once  regarded  as 
showing  McClellan’s  expectation  to  be  a candidate  for 
President  in  1864.  It  is  impossible  to  estimate  the  impor- 
tance of  the  ten  years’  delay  of  the  crucial  struggle  from 
1850  to  1860.  “God  moves  in  a mysterious  way  his  won- 
ders to  perform!” 

Mr.  Chandler’s  closing  words  were  these,  spoken  in 
behalf  of  the  Webster  Birth  Place  Association. 

With  appreciative  thanks  for  all  aid  we  have  received 
and  for  the  attendance  this  day,  we  promise  that  this 
sacred  spot  shall  be  preserved  and  made  attractive  to  all 
the  future  generations  of  New  Hampshire  men  and  women 
and  shall  be  made  an  historic  spot  of  sentiment  and  affec- 
tion to  all  true  Americans. 


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APPENDIX  TO  MR.  CHANDLER’S  REMARKS. 

Decoration  Day  Address  of  William  E.  Chandler, 
on  Thursday,  May  30,  1889,  at  Nashua,  N.  H., 
Before  John  G.  Foster  Post  No.  7,  G.  A.  R. 

[Extracts  from  Part  Relating  to  History  of  Slavery.] 

It  would  not  be  wise,  within  the  limits  of  this  discourse,  to 
attempt  to  give  a history  of  American  slavery.  From  its  feeble 
inception,  and  its  recognition  in  the  Constitution  of  1788,  the 
authors  of  which  instrument  did  not  venture  there  to  call  it  by 
its  dishonoring  name,  down  to  its  final  destruction,  in  1866,  by 
the  13th  amendment  of  that  Constitution,  an  outline  of  events 
will  suffice  for  present  purposes. 

At  first  slavery  assumed  somewhat  the  character  of  a paternal 
institution.  Its  evils  were  a cloud  no  bigger  than  a man’s  hand. 
It  seemed  unnatural  to  America,  and  our  forefathers  believed 
that  it  would  gradually  disappear  at  no  distant  day.  But  at 
last  it  became  the  great,  overwhelming  national  evil,  the  sum  of 
all  villainies,  dominating  all  other  interests,  by  reason  of  the 
acquisition  of  the  slave  regions  of  Louisiana,  and  the  invention 
by  Eli  Whitney  of  the  cotton  gin,  which  caused  an  increased 
adaptation  of  slave  labor  to  the  production  of  the  great  American 
staple.  Cotton  becoming  the  chief  American  product  for  expor- 
tation, the  South  grew  rich  and  prosperous  through  its  culture. 
Cotton  became  king.  The  cotton  lords  became  the  wealthiest 
class  in  the  country. 

But  wealth  was  not  the  only  advantage  which  slavery  came  to 
give  to  the  South.  It  was  also  soon  discovered  by  the  slave- 
owners that  slavery,  thus  made  so  profitable,  would  give  them 
overwhelming  political  power  in  the  government,  such  as  the 
framers  of  the  Constitution  had  not  imagined  when  they  pro- 
vided that  in  fixing  the  basis  of  representation  in  the  Presidential 
Electoral  College  and  for  representatives  in  the  popular  branch 
of  the  National  congress,  there  should  be  added  to  the  total  white 
population  three  fifths  of  all  other  persons,  meaning  the  slave 
population.  As  the  inevitable  result  the  South  took  control  of 
the  government.  A slave  aristocracy  grew  up  which  dominated 
the  nation  with  inexorable  power.  It  controlled  every  congress, 


8 


» 

it  selected  all  Presidents,  it  took  possession  of  the  supreme  court; 
and  when  the  Northern  conscience  concerning  slavery — found  to 
be  thus  protected  and  favored  by  the  Constitution — began  to 
show  itself,  the  slave-owners  resisted  ail  attempts  to  restrict  or 
limit  the  institution,  or  to  place  it  where  the  founders  of  the 
Constitution  believed  it  should  be  placed — in  a condition  of 
progress  towards  final  extinction. 

The  declared  policy  of  the  slaveholding  interests  soon  came  to 
be  this, — that  the  slave  states  should  exceed,  or  at  all  events 
equal,  the  free  states,  so  that  there  should  never  be  a majority 
from  the  free  states  in  the  United  States  senate;  and  that  when- 
ever in  the  growth  of  the  nation  new  states  should  be  added  to 
the  Union,  if  the  slave  states  could  not  be  kept  in  the  majority, 
there  should,  at  least,  be  admitted  a slave  state  for  every  free 
state,  so  that  there  should  be  no  opportunity  afforded  by  legis- 
lation for  weakening  slavery  in  its  intrenched  position  in  the 
National  government. 

The  thirteen  original  states  had  arranged  themselves  seven 
free,  six  slave.  Louisiana,  with  slavery,  became  a state  in  1812; 
and  the  free  and  slave  states  were  thus  made  equal.  Thenceforth 
the  slave  power  took  care  that  new  states  should  come  in  only 
in  pairs: — Kentucky  and  Vermont;  Tennessee  and  Ohio;  Indiana 
and  Mississippi;  Illinois  and  Alabama;  Maine  and  Missouri 
(the  free  states  here  gaining  the  Missouri  Compromise,  dedicat- 
ing to  freedom  in  the  future  all  the  Louisiana  purchase,  except 
Missouri,  north  of  36  degrees  30  minutes  north  latitude) ; Arkansas 
and  Michigan;  Florida  and  Iowa.  When  Mr.  Polk  became 
President,  fifteen  states  had  been  admitted — eight  slave  and  seven 
free;  and  the  states  were  twenty-eight  in  number — free  fourteen, 
slave  fourteen.  Next  the  Mexican  War,  unjustifiably  waged  to 
enlarge  the  area  of  slavery,  gave  to  the  Union  the  slave  state  of 
Texas;  but  the  free  state  of  Wisconsin  was  close  at  the  door  and 
kept  the  balance  even. 

But  in  proportion  as  slavery,  through  the  facilities  which  it 
afforded  for  acquiring  wealth,  and  through  the  political  power 
which  it  gave  to  ambitious  men,  strengthened  its  hold  upon  the 
South  and  the  nation;  so  hatred  of  slavery,  based  upon  its  in- 
human and  unchristian  character,  grew  stronger  at  the  North. 
Widespread  agitation  began;  the  privilege  of  free  speech  was  fully 
exercised;  and  that  great  anti-slavery  conflict  ensued,  the  ac- 


9 


counts  of  which  must  form  the  greater  part  of  our  history  during 
our  first  hundred  years;  and  this  conflict,  from  the  very  consti- 
tution of  human  nature,  could  end  only  in  the  destruction  of 
slavery  or  in  its  complete  and  overwhelming  ascendency  in  the 
nation. 

Mr.  Lincoln  and  Mr.  Seward  are  both  recorded  as  having  said 
that  it  was  impossible  that  this  country  could  long  exist  half 
slave  and  half  free.  At  Springfield,  Illinois,  June  17,  1858,  Mr. 
Lincoln  said, — “A  house  divided  against  itself  cannot  stand.  I 
believe  this  government  cannot  permanently  endure  half  slave 
and  half  free.  I do  not  expect  the  Union  to  be  dissolved;  I do 
not  expect  the  house  to  fall;  but  I do  expect  that  it  will  cease  to 
be  divided.  It  will  become  all  one  thing  or  all  another.  Either 
the  opponents  of  slavery  will  arrest  the  further  spread  of  it  and 
place  it  where  the  public  mind  shall  rest  in  the  belief  that  it  is  in 
the  course  of  ultimate  extinction,  or  its  advocates  will  push  it 
forward  until  it  shall  become  alike  lawful  in  all  the  states,  old  as 
well  as  new,  North  as  well  as  South.” 

At  Rochester,  New  York,  October  25,  1858,  Mr.  Seward  said, — • 
“It  is  an  irrepressible  conflict  between  opposing  and  enduring 
forces,  and  it  means  that  the  United  States  must  and  will,  sooner 
or  later,  become  either  entirely  a slaveholding  nation,  or  entirely 
a free  labor  nation.  Either  the  cotton  and  rice  fields  of  South 
Carolina  and  the  sugar  plantations  of  Louisiana  will  ultimately 
be  tilled  by  free  labor,  and  Charleston  and  New  Orleans  become 
marts  for  legitimate  merchandise  only,  or  else  the  rye  fields  and 
wheat  fields  of  Massachusetts  and  New  York  must  again  be  sur- 
rendered by  their  farmers  to  slave  culture  and  to  the  production 
of  slaves,  and  Boston  and  New  York  become  once  more  markets 
for  trade  in  the  bodies  and  souls  of  men.” 

In  1850  the  contest  over  slavery  assumed  such  proportions  and 
such  bitterness  that  good  men  of  all  parties  found  their  fears  lest 
there  should  be  a dissolution  of  the  Union  reaching  a culminating 
point.  As  a result  of  this  crisis  of  fear  the  compromise  measures 
of  that  year  were  adopted,  and  during  the  presidential  canvass  of 
1852  both  political  parties  of  the  country  acquiesced  in  them, 
and  declared  them  to  be  final  and  perpetual.  But  the  result  of 
the  election  of  1852,  when  a pro-slavery  president  was  chosen 
from  New  Hampshire,  indicated  to  the  slave  interests  that  the 
Northern  people,  in  their  fears  that  the  slavery  conflict  would 


10 


bring  a dissolution  of  the  Union,  would  submit  to  almost  any 
measure  for  the  protection  of  slavery  which  might  be  demanded 
by  its  advocates.  The  compromises  of  1850  had  also  proved 
unsatisfactory  to  the  South.  Although  it  had  obtained  the 
passage  of  a fugitive  slave  law,  it  had  been  compelled  to  consent 
to  the  admission  of  the  free  state  of  California,  which  had  sud- 
denly through  the  discovery  of  gold  sprung  into  being  as  a great 
and  prosperous  commonwealth,  and  this  admission,  without 
that  of  any  counterbalancing  slave  state,  had  at  last  broken  the 
Southern  scheme  and  made  the  Union  of  states  one  containing 
sixteen  free  states  to  fifteen  slave  states. 

From  these  two  conditions — the  belief  that  the  North  would 
submit  to  every  demand  of  slavery,  and  the  dissatisfaction  of 
the  South  because  it  had  lost  the  balance  of  power — came  the 
repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compromise,  which  repeal,  it  was  absurdly 
contended,  was  a legitimate  outcome  of  the  compromises  of  1850, 
whereas  it  was  in  fact  an  absolute  violation  'and  destruction  of 
those  measures,  and  opened  up  to  slavery  a vast  and  fertile 
territory  which  under  the  Missouri  Compromise  had  been  forever 
consecrated  to  liberty  and  to  free  institutions. 

In  aid  of  the  new  Southern  demand  came  the  Dred  Scott 
Decision,  in  which  the  Supreme  Court  asserted  a principle  never 
before  seriously  contended  for  by  the  South,  that  slavery  instead 
of  being  an  exceptional  and  local  institution  was  entitled  to  be 
universal  and  national,  and  that  the  slave-owner  had  a right  to 
take  and  hold  his  slaves  in  all  the  territories  of  the  Union.  With 
this  reopening  of  the  anti-slavery  struggle,  came  the  memorable 
conflict  on  the  plains  of  Kansas  to  decide  whether  that  territory 
should  become  another  free  state,  to  give  to  freedom  two  majority 
of  the  states,  or  whether  it  should  be  wrested  from  freedom  and 
admitted  as  a slave  state  under  the  Lecompton  constitution,  to 
make  the  slave  states  again  equal  in  number  to  the  free  states. 

In  this  momentous  contest  the  North  and  freedom  triumphed. 
The  dark  tide  of  slavery  which  had  swept  from  Missouri  over  the 
Kansas  border,  was  driven  back;  free  state  settlers  from  New 
England  controlled  Kansas,  and  thwarted  all  attempts  of  the 
slave  power  to  organize  its  government.  The  issue,  which  had 
become  the  absorbing  national  question,  was  taken  into  the 
presidential  election  of  1860.  The  Republican  party,  which  had 
been  formed  to  resist  slavery  extension,  nominated  Mr.  Lincoln. 


11 


The  Democratic  party  broke  into  two  fragments,  and  Mr.  Lin- 
coln was  elected  President.  This  election  of  Mr.  Lincoln  cer- 
tainly gave  no  just  cause  for  war,  but  the  South  saw  in  the  result 
the  defeat  of  their  plans  for  slavery  extension,  and  the  destruction 
of  their  method  of  protection  for  slavery.  They  determined  to 
resist  the  new  administration  facing  toward  freedom:  they  or- 
ganized a Southern  Confederacy  based  on  slavery : and  thus  came 
our  great  conflict,  a battle  on  the  one  side  for  the  dissolution  of 
the  Union  in  order  to  secure  the  extension  into  free  territory  of 
the  crime  of  human  slavery,  and  on  the  other  side  a contest  for 
the  restriction  of  slavery  within  its  existing  limits,  the  consecra- 
tion to  freedom  of  all  the  great  unorganized  territories  of  the 
United  States,  and  the  ascendency  of  freedom  in  America  through 
the  maintenance  unbroken  of  the  Constitution  and  the  Union. 
Thus  it  clearly  appears  that  the  war  was  on  account  of  slavery, 
and  did  not  arise  from  any  other  cause. 


12 


Daniel  Webster. 

At  his  birth  place , Salisbury  (Franklin),  New  Hampshire, 
August,  28,  1913. 

Hail  to  the  home  that  reared  him!  hail  to  the  hills,  the 
stream, 

That  heard  his  earliest  accents,  that  shared  his  earliest 
dream ! 

A place  it  is  for  pilgrimage — for  gratitude  to  shrine 

A name  and  fame  whose  grandeur  will  never  know  decline; 

And  with  honor  and  remembrance  and  reverent  accord, 

For  his  greatness  and  his  service  we  bless  and  praise  the 
Lord. 

From  his  own  Kearsarge  and  Katahdin  to  Shasta’ s dome 
of  snow, 

From  Superior’s  pines  to  the  tropic  Gulf  where  the  palm 
and  the  orange  grow, 

He  loved  his  land  and  in  dreams  beheld  the  splendor  of  its 
prime — 

A mighty  nation  nobly  dowered  for  a destiny  sublime; 

And  he  strove  to  weld  the  States  in  one  with  a strength 
no  power  could  sever, 

For  the  cry  of  his  heart  was,  Liberty  and  Union,  now  and 
forever! 

We  think  of  him  as  a 'mountain  peak  that  towers  above  the 
lea, 

Where  sunshine  falls  and  lightnings  flash  and  all  the  winds 
blow  free; 

And  his  voice  comes  back  like  the  swelling  chant,  within 
some  minster  old, 

That  floods  the  nave  and  thrills  the  aisles  and  dies  in  a 
strain  of  gold! 

So  lofty  his  eloquence,  grand  his  mien,  had  he  walked  the 
Olympian  plain 


13 


The  listening,  wondering  throngs  had  thought  great  Zeus 
come  down  to  reign; 

For  beneath  the  blue  or  in  stately  halls,  he  swayed  the 
hearts  of  men, 

As  the  boughs  are  swayed  by  the  rushing  wind  that  sweeps 
o’er  wood  and  glen — 

As  the  earth  is  swayed  by  the  primal  fires  that  burn  beyond 
our  ken. 

And  when  nor  plea  nor  prayer  availed  war’s  awful  strife 
to  shun, 

His  fervor  glowed  in  the  flag  aloft  and  nerved  each  North- 
ern gun, 

And  above  the  roar  of  battle  and  the  rage  of  mad  endeavor, 

His  cry  still  echoed,  Liberty  and  Union,  now  and  forever! 

Do  we  look  alone  at  the  wounding  thorn  when  the  crimson 
rose  waves  high? 

Do  we  hear  but  the  one  discordant  note  as  the  symphony 
rolls  by? 

The  clouds  on  his  fame  are  like  morning  mists  in  the  path 
of  the  full-orbed  sun, 

For  his  glorious,  deathless  words  will  shine 

Down  the  years  with  a light  divine  till  dawns  and  days  are 
done ! 

And  whatever  world  has  gained  him  it  will  be  a heaven  to 
him 

That  the  Union  lives,  resplendent,  not  one  star  lost  or  dim. 

Hail  to  the  home  that  reared  him!  hail  to  the  hills,  the 
stream, 

That  heard  his  earliest  accents,  that  shared  his  earliest 
dream ! 

And  while  the  skies  enfold  Kearsarge  and  the  meadows 
Merrimack  river, 

From  sea  to  sea,  shall  our  watchword  be 

His  patriot  heart-cry,  Liberty  and  Union,  now  and  forever ! 


Edna  Dean  Proctor. 


4 


THE  WEBSTER  BIRTH  PLACE  ASSOCIATION. 

OF  FRANKLIN,  NEW  HAMPSHIRE. 


As  will  be  seen  by  visitors  the  large  dwelling-house,  barn  and  other 
buildings  are  out  of  repair.  Urgent  repairs  have  been  made  upon  them,  but 
much  yet  remains  to  be  done.  The  grounds  and  approaches  also  call  for 
expenditure  beyond  the  present  resources  of  the  Association. 

The  legislature  of  New  Hampshire  at  its  late  session  voted  aid  to  the 
extent  of  $1500,  and  exempted  the  property  from  taxation. 

The  only  source  of  future  income  will  be  fees  of  members  and  donations. 
The  fees  have  been  fixed  as  follows : 

Life  membership,  $100, — with  no  liability  for  future  dues. 

Active  membership,  $10, — with  only  such  future  gifts  as  may  hereafter 
be  voluntarily  paid. 

It  has  been  the  hope  that  generous  and  public-spirited  admirers  of  Mr. 
Webster,  especially  from  his  native  State  of  New  Hampshire,  would  respond 
by  donations.  It  is  desired  to  raise  not  less  than  $20,000  for  the  purposes 
above  indicated, — as  well  as  for  appropriate  and  permanent  care  of  the 
property.  The  officers  of  the  Association  will  make  public  annual  reports 
of  all  receipts  and  expenditures, — and  also  make  acknowledgment  of  all 
moneys  received  from  every  source. 

The  undersigned  have  been  appointed  a committee  to  solicit  new  members 
and  contributions.  We  seek  as  many  life  members  and  donations  as  we 
can  obtain,  but  are  exceedingly  desirous  of  having  as  annual  members  those 
friends  who  feel  that  they  cannot  afford,  or  do  not  care  to  become  life  mem- 
bers, and  we  are  much  in  immediate  need  of  such  $10  memberships  as  they 
may  be  willing  to  use  as  their  method  of  now  making  such  contributions 
even  without  continuing  their  memberships.  Under  the  by-laws  no  one  can 
be  made  liable  for  any  future  payment  without  his  express  prior  consent. 
Applications  for  memberships,  with  checks,  may  be  sent  to  the  Treasurer, 
Dr.  John  W.  Staples,  Franklin,  N.  H.,  or  remittances  may  be  made  to  any 
one  of  the  undersigned: 

Alvah  W.  Sulloway,  Franklin, 

Edward  G.  Leach,  Franklin, 

Clarence  E.  Carr,  Andover, 

Jacob  H.  Gallinger,  Concord, 

William  E.  Chandler,  Concord, 


Committee 

on 

Membership. 


October  11,  1913. 


The  Restored  Birth  Place  House. 

Photograph  by  Hon.  George  B.  Leighton,  Monadnock,  N.  H. 


The  Larger  Mansion  House. 

Photograph  by  Hon.  George  B.  Leighton,  Monadnock,  N.  H. 


